Read our lips, “We are not trying to get your money.”

This is a long winded letter, but if you are an author that is seriously seeking to increase exposure for your work, please read it all.

We launched a web site based, multi faceted promotional plan to promote my books, “28 Days in the Coke Works” and “97 Evergreen West.”(Both by J. G Weddle) Almost immediately we determined we could promote and garner positive exposure for additional authors and their work, at no additional cost. The site we have designed is a showcase for self published authors and will steer potential buyers directly to the author’s sales page. Your sales and your money do not pass through our web site in any way. We primarily intend to assist in exposing your work to the book buying public and direct your potential buyers right to you.
 

Exposure, exposure, exposure is to books as location, location, location is to real estate. Author name recognition and book title exposure are a few of the keys to increased book sales.
 

Our goal, through the web site and additional venues, is to get as much exposure and promotion as is humanly possible for self published authors on a tiny budget. The more potential book buyers we can steer to our respective book sales pages, the better we all should do.
 

Please read the following overview, and visit our “Author Showcase” on the risingstarauthors.com web site. Review it to your satisfaction and if you have any questions, email us. If this program is of interest to you and might fit into your plan to promote yourself and your work, please respond accordingly. 

Program Overview

First off, our web site will showcase multiple books per month. Our web host is making every effort to get us maximum exposure, and the numbers for the first 180 days are very promising. On this site a potential book buyer will see a digital picture of your book cover, on which they can click and be sent directly to your book sales page at your publisher’s bookstore. Not only will they be able to get more details on you and your book, they will be able to purchase your book immediately at the highest royalty rate, which is the exact goal of the page and the information on it. This also keeps all the purchases of your book in your program via your publisher. The bottom line here is additional exposure on top of any promotional actions you are currently taking, which leads to increased book sales.
 

Secondly, signed copies of your book will be offered, along with any promotional flyers, bios, or descriptions you provide, to radio stations throughout the Midwest to use as give-away items. They will have your book and all the narrative material needed to promote your book and you as an author to thousands of listeners, directing them to look up your book online. Once again, the bottom line is exposure and increased book sales.
 

Thirdly, autographed copies of your book will be donated to benefit auctions, also with all the pertinent promotional narrative material. Picture your book lying on an auction table, along with your printed material, for several hours, as potential buyers pass by. When auctioned, your book and your name will be promoted in a very positive manner as it is held high before hundreds of spectators. Being a benefit auction, the proceeds from its sale will go to the cause, but the positive exposure and increased sales generated from it will be yours.
 

Hopefully you have taken the time to visit risingstarauthors.com and have reviewed the “Signed by the Author” give-away section. Your book, after being showcased on the “Author Showcase” section, will be given away in a drawing. Again this is a win/win situation for the author as it puts their name and their title in the hands of the people most likely to spread the word about an author they like, or their work.
 

Lastly, one signed copy of your book will be auctioned off on eBay. The goal here is more to garner maximum exposure of author name and the book title to collectors, avid readers, and to ensure your name and title come up on more places as hits when someone performs a general search on the internet. The minimal proceeds from this sale will be used to support the Rising Star Authors web site, to keep this program as free as possible to participating authors.
 

If this program sounds like a promotional option that you may wish to consider, and since we are not asking you for any money, then you are undoubtedly by now wanting to know what the hook is.
 

We are not asking for any money to support this plan because we believe that outside advertising and our unique approach to fundraising will cover the bulk, if not all, of our web costs. What we seek are self published authors, like myself, who are willing to donate seven signed copies of their book to support all the areas of this promotional plan. If you have multiple books published, we will gladly try to promote all of them. Just send seven autographed copies of each title you wish us to showcase at risingstarauthors.com and we will do everything we can with each title. We know that books cost money, so this program isn’t “completely free”, but keep in mind that you will probably give away quite a few copies of your book and get little or no exposure. At least by sending some of them to Rising Star Authors, you can be assured we are going to try to get your name and title out there in front of the book buying public.
 

Now that our publishers have done their part to get our work produced and out into the world as a commodity, it is up to us, the authors, to promote and get them exposure.(i.e., sell them to generate income.)
 

All booksellers claim that exposure is the key to increased book sales and that is our goal for my books, your books, and any self published author that we can assist. If becoming a member author in this promotional and exposure seeking program is of interest to you, contact us via email at: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it . 

If you are already convinced and wish to become a member, assemble the following items and mail them to the address below:

• Seven signed copies of each book you wish to have showcased at Rising Star Authors web site.
• Digital photo of the cover of each book. (preferably on CD)
• A Web site address to a site where your book may be purchased, or homepage, sales page, etc.
• Copy of any promotional flyer you wish to be displayed with your book.
• (Paper copy or in Word on CD)

One of our unpaid advisers continually suggests that we make Rising Star Authors a “pay to showcase” site, while we (the authors) strongly hope and believe we can get by on donations, and really want to keep this site as “free as possible”. This debate among friends is why there are several mentions of donations within the text of this site. One last fundraising note to submitting authors: If you are feeling overly generous, and have the promotional budget to spend, or just really think this is a good idea, feel free to slip a $20 bill or two into the book package you are sending to Rising Star Authors. (This is completely optional) We will use it to tip the unpaid data entry person or the underpaid web site manager who will be doing all the hard work for all of us members. Welcome to our collective, fellow author!
 

PS: Be sure to add risingstarauthors.com to all your outgoing email and place it strategically on all your promotional flyers and materials. A comment on the last page of your next book would also greatly assist us in world wide exposure. Exposure for you is exposure for us all.
 

Please also consider referring us to your publisher, asking that they refer us to all of their authors. This site has the potential to be a win/win/win for readers, book collectors, authors, and publishers alike. A diverse, yet simple to use Author Showcase will help generate sales, benefiting both the author and the publisher. Please promote the Rising Star Author.com site to everyone.
 

Info: Your flyer should include Book Title, Author’s Name, ISBN #’s, and a web address where a reader might learn more about the book, about the author, read a free preview, or may purchase a copy of your book. A picture of the cover and tear off tabs with a web address are good ideas too. We will be sharing, via email, copies of your promotional flyers with other authors that agreed to post them everywhere possible in return for posting theirs. A mention in your flyer that your book is “being showcased at risingstarauthors.com” would also be beneficial to all members.

Mail all requested items to: 

Rising Star Authors

Attn: J. G. Weddle
P.O. Box 73
Oolitic, IN 47451-0073
 

Email us a heads up if you are putting books in the mail right away, as we are lining up the Author Showcases for the next couple of months at this time. We operate under first come, first showcased here at Rising Star Authors. ( This e-mail address is being protected from spambots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it )
 

Thank you for taking the time to read this. We hope you seriously consider joining our collective of Self Published Authors.

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Sincerely,

J. G. Weddle